Tag Archives: toys

See? I told you I wasn’t the only adult LEGO fanatic. There’s an entire community of them – right here in the Seattle area. Adult Fans of LEGO is a Blocumentary film about LEGO builders and enthusiasts that reside in the Pacific Northwest. The film visits people’s homes, club meetings, and conventions that take place in the region. The film was released in early 2010 and was directed by Jess Gibson.

The film consults numerous everyday people (some of whom claim to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the blocks), who variously attribute the ageless LEGO allure to nostalgia, investment possibilities, entertainment, and spiritual escape.

Are you an adult LEGO fan? Stand up and be counted. Show us your favorite creations!

I collected all sorts of action figures when I was a kid. My first was the Star Wars AT AT. There were also a lot of GI-Joe figurines lying about our house at any given time when I was little. As an adult, I collect Darth Vader figurines and LEGO mini-figs. I’d probably embarrass myself if I showed you how many of those things I have.

Several months ago, someone reached out to me and asked if I wanted to create an action figure of myself. I had to take photos of my face and upload them to the web. They created this head out of resin which can be stuck onto virtually any action figure I want.

You can order my action figure head for yourself, or get one made with YOUR face on it. I’m not making anything from these, so let’s not go off on that particular tangent. This is just something that’s a lot of fun that I wanted to pass along to the community.

These things are a lot of fun to play with. You can place the heads on any figure, as I said. However, if you want to order a body from them, they do a really good job. They are so life-like. They got my pecs and my six pack correct.

You can’t help but want to play with these things. They’re absolutely awesome – and not just because they have my head on them. The heads pop right off, which can make for hours of creative fun. They fit easily on your fingers…

Or in your ear…

And even in your mouth! I don’t recommend letting toddlers play with them for that reason, though. Apparently my head is big enough to cause a child to choke. I’m just sayin’…

Thanks, as always, to the awesome UncleJohn for capturing all of the wacky moments on my live stream that might otherwise be missed.

I admitted in a video earlier today that I still enjoy playing with LEGO Bricks. I also apparently still like the Lite Brite!

There’s nothing wrong with occasionally letting your inner child come out to play when you’re a grown-up. I personally think it can help keep you sane and stress-free if you let your hair down once in awhile, and take the time to remember what it’s like to play. What do you do during occasions like these? Do you indulge yourself with crayons? Do you prefer to duke it out with action figures?

Now that Cyber Monday is here, our download center team is working hard to come up with new and amazing programs for you to grab at deep discounts. Be sure to check every day to see what they have found for you!

I was walking through Radio Shack the other day and came across the section of the store where they had these Snap-Kits. They’re basically rudimentary electronic kits. If you have a kid or someone who likes electronic kits, this is for you.

Learn about electronics by building a “space battle” sound generator with this fun Snap Circuits kit. The included electronic blocks snap onto a clear plastic base grid to build different circuits. The blocks have different colors and numbers making it easy to identify and put your snap circuits together with ease.

There are plastic and metal parts that aren’t really an Erector set, and not really like a LEGO kit. It’s an all-in-one kit. Each kit comes with various components, and I can create any of three different configurations.

There’s so many different things I can do with it – including making awesome noises that drive my dogs insane. These kits are relatively fun, and affordable!

If you want to educate yourself – or your child – on the basics of circuitry, this is an excellent idea!

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The holidays are fast approaching, as we all know. Have you been naughty… or nice? Have you sent Santa your wish list yet? If you haven’t, you may want to check out the hottest must-have items of the season.

Growing up, us boys had awesome holidays. We had many traditions that were sacred to us. I remember going through the catalogs on Thanksgiving Day each year, marking the things that we wanted under the tree on Christmas morning.

What Amazon has done this year is to come up with a very simple and fun way to browse anything and everything you can think of buying (or asking for!) for Christmas. You can search by category or keyword. They have products of all shapes and sizes, for all ages.

No matter what you’re looking for, you’ll get a great idea of what’s new and what’s out there. Heck, I’m already making my list! Are you?

[rsslist:http://shop.tagjag.com/products/toys]

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Every so often, my friends at ThinkGeek will send me products to review. Sometimes, I buy things from there just to have for myself. One of the Geeks on our new Geeks community started a group dedicated to love of everything ThinkGeek. The group has an RSS feed with the latest products and product discounts that are available.

The group facilitator is TheSkull, who is a regular community member. He gave away a $100 gift certificate to ThinkGeek when the group hit 300 members earlier tonight. Congratulations to Andrew for winning that. Also, my friend over at ThinkGeek has decided they will give away another $100 gift certificate when the group reaches 1000 members. In order to win that one, you have to be a member of the group and have participated in at least one forum thread within the group. And by the way… if this goes over well, and the people at ThinkGeek sees excellent interaction… there could be many more giveaways in the future.

This is what I love about the community of Geeks. We look out for one another. If you haven’t joined us yet, what the heck are you waiting for? I’m not engraving golden invitations. Ok, fine. I will if you really insist.

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Yes, I’m popping bubble wrap. It’s so addictive, I could sit here doing it all day long. Of course, since this is electronic bubble wrap, I can do it all day long! It may not be as fun as real bubble wrap, but it is fun. It’s also a great stress reliever. The Electronic Bubble Wrap Key Chain is, of course, available from our friends at ThinkGeek.

One of the single greatest gifts (and curses) to anyone who is a little anal retentive is bubble wrap. Sure it’s good for protecting packages, but the real joy is popping each and every bubble. You can’t let even one survive or your mission as bubble popper has failed. But what happens when you desire the joy of popping bubble wrap but don’t have the time to invest in popping a full 60′ roll? Welcome to the future, my friends; electronic bubble wrap is here.

Each keychain device has 8 rubbery little “bubble” buttons. They have a pretty close tactile feel to actual bubble wrap. Guess what happens when you push one? That’s right, you hear a little pop. In a nutshell, that is the simple beauty of the electronic bubble wrap keychain. But there is one bonus, and here’s where the OCD can kick in a little. Every 100th “pop” is not a pop at all, but a silly sound: a boing, a bark, a rude noise, etc. And since you can easily pop (pun intended) the keychain in your pocket, you’ll always have bubble wrap when you need it most (you know, like when your boss starts talking).

The tactile feedback is as realistic as it comes. The buttons are soft, pushed into a harder plastic case. It’s a great way to entertain yourself for a few minutes… or heck, even a few hours if you want.

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This would have been the best $10.00 I ever spent. However, ThinkGeek sent this to me to review for free! The cost for one of these little dogs is anywhere from $7.00 – $10.00, depending on what “breed” of dog you choose to buy. The Humping USB Dog will make you laugh for pretty much no reason at all. It’s just funny. What do they do? Plug them into a USB port on your computer, and they’ll do exactly as their name implies.

It doesn’t serve any purpose, but it’s what they do. They are insatiable. And that’s all we really have to say. Harley is brown and Duke is black, and you can take your pick. Oh, and don’t worry – if the kids ask what the doggie is doing to your computer, just say, “He’s trying to jump over the computer, but he got a little stuck,” or “The computer is giving him a piggyback ride.” Either will suffice.

I even got a laugh out of reading the box the doggie came in. It says “USB meets love”. They’ve been ‘fixed’, of course. So, you’re safe to plug one into any USB port without worrying about little USB doggies turning up later on down the road. I just love ThinkGeek. They have fun little gadgets and toys that make a perfect gift for someone who has everything.

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It’s no secret that I love Christmas. One of my absolute favorite things, though, is to stuff stockings. Stockings were always fun and special when I was growing up, so I went all out to make Ponzi’s special this year, as well.

Here is a list of what I put into her stockings. Yes… there are two! She has two feet, so she may as well have two stockings.

Pound of Major Dickinson’s Blend coffee from Peet’s, which is her favorite

Neon glow 22″ necklace

Play money… to help start her on her coin collection. What?! Play money doesn’t count? Oh well, it’s still fun.

Harmonica

Life Savers Storybook

Kazoo

A cow keychain that moo’s and has an LED light. This is to symbolize the fact that she wanted to donate to a charity that buys a cow for a needy family, who can then use it for milk… and eventually meat.

Oreo cookies

Paw rubber stamp

Earplugs, so that she won’t have to hear the Ventrilo stream when she doesn’t want to

Chocolate coins. Unfortunately, they don’t make plain ones anymore, so these are SpongeBob Squarepants ones

Stretch Deck, to help her with stretching more, which is something she plans to do

Sour Patch candy

What do you put in your stockings for loved ones, family or children? Do you have special traditional gifts? Leave me a follow-up comment, or email me at [email protected] and let me know!

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